REPORT: Destructive Delay: The State of Immigration Enforcement and the Human Cost of Postponing Reforms

Destructive Delay, written by Tania Unzueta and co-authored by B. Loewe, illuminates the inhumane interior Immigration and Customs Enforcement practices that continue unabated while the President postpones action and it highlights the human cost of the delay. The key findings shed light on an agency driven by one calculated mission, to meet a draconian deportation quota, regardless of the costs to public safety, institutional integrity, moral or constitutional considerations.

Through almost three dozen interviews with front-line organizers, legal experts, and people in deportation proceedings, Destructive Delay collects previously disparate and disconnected stories of the lived experience of ICE enforcement activity into a single document. The report provides real-life context for the rhetoric of the debate and gives an inside look into how immigration policy is actually working on the ground.

“The President said that he would reform immigration policy because it is currently inhumane. Instead the White House has willfully allowed unjust immigration to continue for the sake of DC politics,” explains report author and deportation defense organizer for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Tania Unzueta. “The immigrant community is told to wait for the right time for relief while ICE agents are knocking down our doors and shredding the checks and balances that previously existed. Destructive Delay shows that there is a real cost to the delay in Washington. While the President postpones action, civil rights are being violated, community leaders are being punished, and trust in local government agencies is being eroded as ICE extends the lengths it will go to achieve its deportation quota.”

Javier Nava, the only one released in a fifty person raid in Georgia says, “Without introducing themselves the agents came into my house. A few minutes into the conversation one of the agents who spoke Spanish said that they were with immigration.

In a very polite way I told them that what they were doing to me was not legal because I didn’t have any problems with immigration. They took my fingerprints, took pictures, made me sign papers, and I am now in deportation. They have continued to come and take people. I also hear stories from different towns. But people have to keep going to work. They leave the house not knowing whether they will see their children again. It’s impossible to hear that the President says that families are not being separated. Our experience shows that those are lies.”

Citing her client’s cases, Chicago attorney Mony Ruiz-Velasco says, “It has never been harder to be an immigrant in this country than it is today. DHS over and over fails to assess cases under its current and longstanding priorities. Notwithstanding clear evidence in many cases showing that individuals should not be considered an enforcement priority, immigrants with significant ties to the US, victims, and vulnerable populations continue to be deported often in violation of DHS’s own policies.”

Megan Fountain of Unidad Latina en Acción in New Haven Connecticut adds, “Connecticut legislators unanimously approved the TRUST Act in 2013 to uphold due process, to improve trust between immigrants and police, and to prevent overreach by ICE. But ICE is undermining the efforts of Connecticut legislators, using other tactics to fill prison beds and fill deportation quotas. In one case in 2014, a student ordered to complete mental health counseling was picked up by ICE at the probation office despite the fact that he had zero criminal convictions. People in Connecticut seem to think that ICE only targets dangerous criminals, but when you examine on a case by case basis, this is far from the truth.”

NotOneMoreDeportation.com is a campaign made of individuals, organizations, artists, and allies to expose, confront, and overcome unjust immigration laws.

As the immigration debate continues, #Not1More enters the discussion from the place that touches people in concrete ways and can offer tangible relief. By collectively challenging unfair deportations and unjust policy through organizing, art, legislation, and action, we aim to reverse criminalization, build migrant power, and create immigration policies based on principles of inclusion.Read More »